New Bear Long: Last 18 hours a 'whirlwind'

Kyle Long’s path to the podium at Halas Hall on Friday was anything but ordinary.

Gave up football after high school. Drafted by the White Sox. Enrolled at Florida State to play baseball. Back to football as a defensive end in junior college. A position switch to offensive line. One year at Oregon.

And there he was, holding up a No. 75 jersey as the first-round pick of the Bears.

“It has been an interesting journey,” said his father Howie Long, the Hall of Fame defensive end who accompanied his son to Bears headquarters.

Kyle Long could be excused if his head was spinning a bit.

“It has been unbelievable,” he said. “I’m still really not on my feet. I had just my family, my close family around me for the draft. That was great to be able to sit there and take in the draft and see one of my teammates get taken early on in the draft.

“I’m just so blessed to be in the position I am today. You know, the last 18 hours have been a whirlwind but I’m here in Chicago and I’m home now and I’m very excited about that.”

Long said he was welcomed to the Bears with a text from quarterback Jay Cutler and a tweet from kicker Robbie Gould. And he said when he met Brandon Marshall at Halas Hall Friday, Marshall chastised him for not returning a text Long didn’t know he received.

Nevertheless, Long clearly was happy to be here.

“I just know that Chicago is one of the most historic football towns, sports towns, in the country,” he said. “Everybody who I’ve spoken to, there are Chicago Bears everywhere around the world. The ‘C’ on the helmet is synonymous with success and just tremendous football. That’s what I’m most excited about — coming to Chicago and being part of the Bears organization.”

Long could have come to Chicago once before. The White Sox selected him in the 23rd round of the 2008 draft. He elected instead to enroll at Florida State.

“Anybody coming out of high school that has an opportunity to get drafted would obviously like to see where they would be drafted,” he said. “It was a pretty cool experience for my family and I, getting to meet some big-name people and getting to work out at some major league parks was a pretty cool deal.

“But I wanted to go to college and I wanted to get the college experience and get an education. I felt like that would help me in my development from a maturity standpoint.”

When Long returned to football, he initially played defense for Saddleback Community College in Mission Viejo, Calif.

“I was pretty bad at defensive line,” he said. “I thought maybe it ran in the family but obviously it doesn’t.”

Long believes he can play guard or tackle on the offensive line. He said the positions aren’t that different.

“I just want to play,” he said. “I don’t care where it is. I’m sure that the coaches have a plan for that. I’m just going to work at whatever they want to do.”